How about Consequences Creed? His match with Petey Williams was the one decent match actually on the show.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: It was a good match but not so good that it made up for the rest of the show.

I thought it was ridiculous that Rhino gores robert roode (I think it was him), goes for the cover and then Brother Ray grabs the ref and violently pulls him out of the ring, enough so that the ref smashes into the steel barricade. That is enough justification for a DQ. I understand referees need to play a "dumb" role sometimes, but when they are physically assaulted like that in a match it should warrant a DQ finish. Referees need to have some authority for their role to be taken seriously. Just don't book it that way. Dumb.

And why does Don West wear the same color shirt and tie? They need to have a storyline where this man gets his comeuppance and I never have to hear him call a match again. I would rather listen to Adamle call a turtle race than Don West calling a wrestling match.

"This all built to the show’s big climax. After Samoa Joe stormed off to confront Sting in the rafters, he came face to face with … a crow! And then the show ended after 1997 called and said it wanted its crow back."

Absolutely brilliant, Kevin. I giggled like a fiend after reading this. I didn't get to watch the show last night, as my roommate thought it was more prudent to play The Godfather, but I did read the recap in a few other places and that was the first thing that I thought of upon reaching the end.

What happened to Tomko? Done with it? Will he be back in the 'E'?

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Tomko's departure from TNA was reportedly by mutual agreement. He will probably wrestle fulltime in Japan but I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up back in WWE at some point.

Kevin, why do you hate anything that is light hearted, funny, or shows flaws in a hero or champion? You have to remember that wrestling is an entertainment television show, not a realistic sporting event. If Samoa Joe whines a lot, so what? That's his character, a young guy with talent who's a bit green and hot tempered. What's wrong with backstage story lines that weave throughout the show? And what's wrong with putting comedy on the show with a somewhat younger audience? It might not be the reason I buy a PPV, but it's entertaining within the context of a free show. Plenty of other television shows highlight the "B" subplots now and then. It gives the bit players more context later on when they are back in their bit roles. I am beginning to think you hate fun and I'm also starting to feel you are a little too much of a WWE mark. Impact this week wasn't so bad. And i'd rather give up two hours each week (really 90 minutes, cause i don't watch it with commercials) to a pretty good show like Impact than watch 5 freakin' hours of WWE. Who has that kind of time?

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I like comedy. I just don't like bad comedy. If you find Super Eric entertaining, God bless you. As for how Samoa Joe is being portrayed, you need to remember that wrestling is a business not just a TV show. As the company's top babyface, Samoa Joe is in a money-drawing postion. Whining babyfaces never have and never will draw.

What a god-awful two hours of television. The people writing for TNA make the WWE booking team look like MENSA members. Babyfaces are portrayed as idiots and/or sissies. Yet another babyface is portrayed as being a bad guy when none of the events in question support that notion. Oh, I get it, the logic is that Sting is the only person in the universe with access to black bats and the ability to cue up his theme music. The only person smart enough to watch a previous episode thinks he's a superhero and always gets startled by his own pyro. A person who could have had a huge babyface run never saw it because of a swerve just for the sake of a swerve, now that same person is leaving the company and the company didn't even get as much as a loser-leaves-town match out of his departure, shocking given TNA's infatuation with gimmick matches. Speaking of which, most matches seem like they're created using a random number generator. It's obvious TNA doesn't have it's hand anywhere near the pulse of its fans, as evidenced by the crickets heard during AJ's rant on Sting.

Still, even a horrible show like this did have some good interspersed among the junk. The Creed/Williams match was solid, and Petey gave a funny, albeit ironic, promo before the match. The women's match was good (Angelina Love is by far the best women's talker in the business), although Kong returned way too early. Shark Boy and Curry Man were funny in their segments, which is more than I can say for the Hurricane v. 2.0, umm, I mean Super Eric.

For what it's worth, I'm starting to think the person who's going to end up turning at the end of this entire fiasco is Kevin Nash.

Unfortunately, TNA is trying to copy WWE's attempts at using stories to produce interest in wrestling as opposed to using wrestling to produce interest in the stories. As JR might say, 'Keep the horse in front of the cart.' Please.

Damn Tomko left? And why the hell is Christian being wasted on a tag team? And I gotta admit, when I saw Samoa Joe and Nash open the show last week as high fiving buddies I immediately pictured Kevin McMahon Jr throwing his TV out the window! And deservedly so. Ric Flair summed it up on the WCW DVD: V Russo was exposed as a guy who didn't come close to living up to his own hype. Who's ear does he have Kevin, Jarrett's or Dixie's or both??? It's just non-sensical. TNA was the best wrestling show on TV because it was the exact opposite of the nonsense of WWE. Now it's just a lame imitation of lame wrestling and skits.

Kevin , here we go again . I can only hope the movie was good .
Angry may be alittle too strong of a word to use , lets say "stirred" after reading this post . I sat down with pen and paper to get my thoughts together then thought better of it because you'll win again anyway .
I know your'e just doing what a good blogger does , but we TNA fans would rather watch bad WCW retreads than McMahon , Hornswoggle , MICHAELS , and a host of others .
And guess what Kevin , we don't have 2 heads or 3 eyes . Some of us are actually college grads .
Now I'm going to review my recording of last nights show and find all of the Traci Brooks segments .

I guess i'm a first grader because I enjoy the Prince Justice Brotherhood. Especially Curry Man's hilarious parts.

That Impact sucked. I hate how TNA portrays their faces as complete and utter morons.

Also, God forbid there was ever a Samoa Joe promo that didn't end with him screaming like an idiot.

Nash is going to be the guy secretly attacking Joe. You can see it from a mile away.

"I would rather listen to Mike Adamle call a turtle race than Don West calling a wrestling match."

Good one. I say to myself, "some Thursday, I am going to watch a full episode of Impact," but West's commentary is one reason why "some Thursday" never arrives.

A Turtle race ... I can see it now:

ADAMLE: Shelly has taken the lead!

TAZZ: That's not Shelly, Mike. It's Slow-But-Steady!!

You know, Joe Barber could have saved himself some serious keystrokes and us readers a bit of time if he would have just said "Kev, I completely agree with everything you said."

Leonard Crist wrote - " I'm starting to feel you are alittle too much of a WWE mark ". AMEN !!!

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I don't know why it's so difficult for some people to grasp this concept, but could it be possible that I praised smackdown because I thought it was good and criticized impact because I thought it wasn't good? Why does there always have to be a bias? And why does no one ever say I'm biased when I praise Impact (check the archives if you have selective memory). Now, if you watched the two shows this week and actually thought Impact was better, and you think Super Eric is a better performer than Mick Foley, more power to you and we'll agree to disagree. But the "you're biased" and "you're a WWE mark" stuff is weak and it's getting tiresome.

Kevin , sorry "some people" (me) haven't grasped the concept . As as far as the criticism being weak and tiresome , if thats how you feel , fine . I'm done , final comment from me . Suely to the delight of you and other readers . I doubt however there won't continue to be similar comments . Good luck with your blog .

It's your blind homerism that's getting tiresome. It insults the readers intelligence. You make Jim Hunter look objective.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: A homer is someone who loses objectivity when it comes to their home team. How did WWE become the home team? Instead of accusing me of being a homer, why not take an honest look at what TNA is producing?

Kevin - SmackDown has consistantly been better than Impact over the past few months, besides a few shows here and there. The TNA marks calling you out is hilarious because they actually find this garbage thoroughly entertaining. The comedy is just terrible in TNA and it usually falls short in WWE as well, minus a few tremendous characters such as Santino and Jericho. Guys like Super Eric and Shark Boy are pathetic and Samoa Joe has been booked laughably since winning the championship in April. I love the blog and agree with your take, keep up the good work.

TNA sure jumped the shark with Tomko. He was all but ready to have that huge, -huge- no-nonsense babyface world title run that would have permanently elevated him to the main event level...

...if it wasn't for that one bloody swerve! It really broke my heart at the time - I was marking out huge to his babyface character - and now with him leaving the company, I am simply very disappointed.

I'm sure any other wrestling company will get more out of him at this stage, though. He's an excellent performer and I shudder to think how green he was back in WWE compared to where he is now :D

I agree completely with Mark K about how referees are booked these days. With outside interference ruling the day it makes it impossible for me to suspend my disbelief. I do long for the day when the referees get their eyesight and spatial awareness back.

Oh, and why is Impact so hectic and noisy? The Rock 'n' Rave Infection interview was so messy I had no idea what they were 'raving' about. Pretty much the only person that delivers a coherent promo in TNA these days is Kev "Big Lazy" Nash. At least the mic volume is still turned up unlike a year before :D

I thought they both could have been better. Smackdown, especially. They got some pretty decent picks in the draft, but I feel like I've been getting the same, terrible results that they were giving us last year.

I used to watch TNA every single week but eventually gave it up after the Russorific elements gave me too much of a headache. I do not always agree with your views, Kevin, but I do appreciate reading them. Between the unappreciative, whining TNA marks and your own dissatisfaction with the show, I can't help but feel that you might be better off giving up on TNA and putting those two hours to much better use. You are not under any obligation here to report on a minor wrestling company. If you want to throw in some non-WWE content onto your blog, you can always opt for ROH instead.

I've said repeatedly that TNA has gone in the tank since Russo took over. Why can't YOU take a look at what's happened to the WWE? Answer: Kev's on the payroll.

Kevin, I know you like Daivari and this Sheik Abdul Bashir angle. However, if you are going to chide TNA for borrowing decade old ideas from WCW then why not chide TNA for borrowing a WWE idea from all of three years ago? TNA is doing nothing more than recycling Mohammad Hassan. The fact Hassan's former number two is involved makes it even more egregious.

RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: I agree that the characters are very similar. I guess I'm cutting them some slack because I think Daivari is a better performer that Hassan, so I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with it.

Not to throw dry brush of the fire, but I'm not overly certain where Kevin has ever given undisputable cause for all of the "WWE mark" and "bias" vitriol. There is plenty about the current WWE product that Kevin has criticized (e.g. the booking of CM Punk), but when he likes something on either a WWE or TNA show, he is liberal with his praise.

I'm not going to try asking why we can't all just get along, but I do wonder why the division must always result in insults as opposed to open, and possibly even intelligent, discourse. Why must it be an Us vs. Them?

Two things that are making TNA harder and harder to watch. First I agree with the 97 reference, all your doing by rehashing the past over and over is acknowledging that your current product is not as cool as it was. Secondly Tenay and West overselling EVERYTHING is getting real tiresome.

Kevin - You gone done it again with the old proverbial hammer and nail head, Watching in the UK over the last few weeks the decline in TNA Impact has been drastic, this last week was like watching an episode of RAW.
Constant blowing of the wrestling "superstars" trumpets in 5minute "I'm the greatest in the world" clips before, during and after matches, repeated week after week is getting tedious, although I refuse to be so anal as to go back over episodes and time the wrestling v's story airtime at the beginning of the show and now, but I'd bet HHH's pay packet it's done a drastic about turn!
The only saving grace is it's part of my sky package and not paid extra for!
Keep on rockin' n wrestlin'

"Why must it be an Us vs. Them?"

It could be that when someone criticizes what you enjoy, you feel stupid for enjoying it and resentful that your bubble was burst. I didn't watch the Impact episode in question, so I can neither agree nor disagree with Kevin's critique of it (although if I had watched, I suspect that I would agree) but he is criticizing it from the perspective a wrestling fan. If I were a TNA fan, I would much rather read his bubble-bursting appraisals than be chided by people who ridicule wrestling in general.

Having main event talent pout is just unexcusable. Worse yet, you're having your FACES pout. That angle worked once, barely, on a heel character. You know what, I take that back, watching Christian writhe around on the mat in anger was just as painful as watching AJ and Joe whine. Still, this all might be a thing of the past if the rumors about Big Daddy Cool walking away are true.

i find it funny that that so many people are posting that Kev is a wwe mark for pointing out things on impact that he finds to be bad, and doing it professionally not just trashing it. tna keeps putting on some of the worst stuff i have seen in a long time. and people defending bad angles just because they like tna makes you a tna mark.